We have ramped up our promotion of iTunes gift cards since they are the best connectuon we currently have to the iPad and iPod. The specially made and visually catching posters are facing out into the mall to promote that we sell the cards. The iTunes gift cards work well with greeting cards.
This is one poster from a series of posters designed to promote a broader range of product than what the average shopper may expect to see in a newsagency.
We have Justin Forever at the counter for this weekend. We also have it in with our weeklies as well as with teen magazines. At a couple of my stores the counter location is already working well for this title. While the $8.95 could be a stretch for the younger shopper, I am hoping that the counter location works for mum, dad and other adults who may buy it as a treat or gift for a fan.
Our current plan is to leave Justin Forever up until Wednesday.
We received plenty of stock of the F111 title which went on sale yesterday. Not sure why. It gets two weeks to see if it warrants space and time in my store. While I am all for range as a point of difference, there are some titles we are sent via the push model which I would not take on – having regard to space and other constraints.
Mediaweek this morning reported that Network Services is moving to support Australian publishers who have been using NDD for magazine distribution.
No mention of the international titles in the Mediaweek report. Maybe these will end up at Gotch – this would be a natural fit.
Newsagents will be watching Network and Gotch to see that the changes result in a more efficient assortment of titles. One excuse put by distributors to newsagents in the past was that they did not know what newsagents were getting from the other two. Now, there is one less to be concerned about.
Appe has announced that it has sold more than 3 million iPads in 80 days. That is an extraordinary number.
On the device itself and similar devices to follow, News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch was predicting a bright future in New York this week:
“This is a fantastic invention,” he said. “It combines the ability to present all forms of media to all people, from three year old children to 100 year old men.” He added: “I believe that within five years, you’ll have many hundreds of millions of iPad or iPad-like devices in the world. This is a huge new market.”
Business Week has the full story.
As I have taken my iPad around the country and shown it is newsagents over the last couple of weeks, it is interesting to see the reaction and to participate in the conversations which follow. I’ll have some more to say on that next week.
The Herald Sun yesterday ran another negative Intralot story as is their want. Intralot Action CEO issues a statement to the retail network to clarify their position.
My view is that the state government seriously botched the handling of the Intralot licence by not addressing the dedicated area committed in retail outlets for Tattersalls products. That said, Intralot has not done themselves any favours with slow equipment and unpopular online games except for keno which is improving. Their advertising of scratchie products is working a treat.
Like most newsagents I am sure, we have received plenty of stock of two new fanzines: Rob Pattinson and Taylor Lautner. Besides the cash flow hit we have to find space for two new titles in an already crowded category.
We are stepping up to the challenge by promoting these outside of the teen magazine space with stock placed with Famous, the magazine most connected with the Twilight franchise.
It is interesting to see how different publishers handle one-shots differently. With the Justin Bieber one-shot we got the chance to set out supply quantity whereas with these fanzines we did not. By getting to set our supply quantity we accept more of a stake in the success of the title.
I really wish more publishers would develop a pull model with newsagents instead of this out of date push model.
ACP is advising selected Melbourne and Sydney newsagents of a special release of Woman’s Day next week’s magazine out tomorrow. I am guessing that this is a Julia Gillard special edition. I like special editions as they usually drive a bump in sales.
I am surprised to see the ANF involvemed in a project which aims to use Bill Express screens in newsagencies for advertising, especially since there is no disclosure, at this stage, of the commercial benefit for the ANF. Given the ANF ivolvement in promoting Bill Express to newsagents from 2003 and the millions its collapse cost newsagents, I would have thought that transparency on this new project would have been a wise move.
Click here to see the fax received by newsagents from Wow-vision media network about the screens.
The unfolding Labor Party leadership situation last night was covered more immediately and extensively on Twitter and Facebook than on mainstream media. While Sky News did a pretty good job, their colleagues were far behind. Twitter an Facebook lit up with reports, rumours and commentary. It was a delight for a political junkie, getting closer to real time coverage is more exciting.
It showed that print really is more of an analysis medium in today’s world.
Better Basics did very well for us last time it was out by placement with our weekly magazines as well as with food titles. So that is what we have done with the latest issue. We have it displayed on the flat between Woman’s Day and Famous as well as on the flat in our food section.
This weekend, we are planning a Better Basics and Better Homes and Gardens dual display, probably at the counter – to encourage people to buy both titles together. This makes sense since they are related titles.
Better Basics is a title which will respond to tactical placement. That is, placement next to a popular title outside of the food area. Hence our placement with the weeklies. It would work just as well next to newspapers or even Australian Women’s Weekly in the first week of the on-sale.
We have Justin Forever, the Justin Bieber magazine which went on sale yesterday displayed with our teen magazines.
If we can get more stock, yes we only received five copies, we will promote Justin Forever more prominently out the front of the store. I am sure we can achieve good sales from girls in the mall who may not usually venture into our newsagency. It helps that his song is on high rotation on our in-store radio.
This is also a title to display with the weeklies since mum may buy it for a daughter.
We are promoting the latest issue of Girlfriend with an in-location display. We plan to supplement this with a display at the counter for the weekend. Co0location works well for Girlfriend. Displaying the stock was a bit of a challenge thanks to the nail polish kit – it is not friendly to traditional magazine fixturing.
I will be in Brisbane on Tuesday and Cairns on Thursday for Newsagency of the Future workshops. Participation is open to anyone and its free. Come along and join the conversation about the future of our channel. Book online here.
The OzLotto jackpot last night to a $50 million first division prize pool for next Tuesday sets us for an excellent bump in traffic. Here are some tips on how to leverage this traffic:
This jackpot is happening at a great time for us, make the most of it.
A smart publisher would send newsagents samples of a title they want to push – with a space on the back for newsagents to stamp the sample as coming from their store.
A smart confectionery company would send newsagents boxes of free samples to give out to lottery customers.
We are promoting crossword magazines to shoppers as they walk toward the car park. The simple display attracts sales we would otherwise not have achieved. We do this with crosswords two or three times a year and see a lift in sales as a result.
As the photo shows, we primarily support Lovatts and Puzzler. This is logical as they deliver most sales.
The display will remain up for a week.
While speaking about crosswords, they account for between 6% and 7% of all magazine sales in our Forest Hill store. It is important to us that we maintain this as we strive for a balance across magazine categories. There is a danger too much business coming from one or two categories.
While I am happy to achieve good sales for weeklies, it is important that they do not dominate magazine sales. The weekly magazine shopper is more fickle, in my view.
We are promoting Diabetic Living in an aisle end display as well as at the counter and in the usual location with health titles. In this high-traffic location Diabetic Living is seen by men and women entering their respective magazine aisles.
Diabetic Living is one of those titles which is easily purchased on impulse. Hence our multi location commitment.
We expect to leave this main display uop for a week.
The copy of the Sydney Morning Herald I picked up in Sydney today has an ad for GIO stuck over the word Sydney in the masthead. What do the brand experts think about this? What do newspaper journalists and editors think about this? Or is the masthead worth that little that it is okay to cover it up in this way? Maybe they should sell the name off – the ANZ Morning Herald, the Telstra Morning Herald … hang on, that’s what they are doing now with these stuck on ads.
The announcement yesterday that NDD is to close will see two main magazine distributors. While there are other players, it would take extraordinary expansion for them to compete with Gordon and Gotch and Network Services.
The magazine distribution model newsagents currently have often fails us. We are supplied at a level which makes the magazine department loss making or break even for more newsagents than those who make a profit. This is not healthy for us for publishers.
Despite what magazine distributors say, newsagents do not have fair control over the stock they receive. They are denied the opportunity of making business decisions on what titles they carry and the volume of each they receive. Yet we are held accountable for paying magazine supplier bills on time. This is grossly unfair since we are not given control over magazine cash flow.
In the next week or so I will publish a post here on magazine cash flow in newsagencies, based on fresh evidence. In one store, supply from Gotch and Network has been cash flow positive only three months out of the last twelve. Yet this newsagency has had to find the cash to pay the magazine bills or not receive stock.
Gotch and Network are doing what they need to do to serve their respective business models. Just as IPMG has made a decision about NDD which serves its business model.
It is a pity that newsagents have so little control over this vitally important part of their business.
The closure of NDD reduces choice and has the potential to see newsagents face tougher magazine supply terms.
I will NDD’s innovation, they we always at the forefront of range analysis and, in recent years, more flexibility for newsagents in controlling supply.
We are promoting Men’s Health next to our main newspaper stand for the next two weeks. Why? Because it works! Our experience is that we sell more copies of Men’s Health from this small stand than in the usual location with men’s fitness titles. Simple tactical moves like this are vitally important to driving above average magazine sales. It is important to know which titles such moves work for un your newsagency and to be obsessive about leveraging the opportunity.
Go try it with Men’s Health. Put it with your newspapers, even on the flat next to your biggest selling daily. Count how many copies you place there and check sales each day. Let sales data drive your actions.
In this marketplace with so many retailers selling magazine we need to fight for every single sale we can get.
We are supporting the new look Vogue Living magazine with a display at our main sales counter. This display will remain up for a few days, longer if we see sales from this location. Our Notebook and Real Living sales are growing so I figured we should achieve more with Vogue Living. Doing more to support the new look title would have been a challenge since we received just one poster.
We are promoting Cleo to shoppers as they leave our Women’s magazine aisle this week. This is in addition to two half waterfalls in the usual location for the title. Our Cleo sales are volatile so we are playing it safe with this promotional allocation. I decided to leave our Good Food display up for customers as they enter this aisle as sales have been okay from there.
NDD has announced today the winding down of its business:
As a consequence of a recent significant reduction of distribution volumes, IPMG (NDD’s parent company and shareholder) has reluctantly taken the decision to wind down the NDD business.
It is NDD’s intention to manage the process in an orderly fashion as magazine product in the system works its way through the retail channel. newsagents and supermarkets have been advised of the decision today.
We would like to assure you that NDD and its parent company IPMG, will continue to collectretail sales proceeds on your behalf and will guarantee any publisher payment liabilities in accordance with contracted terms.
We make the commitment that all NDD distributed magazines will be delivered in accordance with on sale schedules until a completion date is determined and notified. This will ensure the timely reconciliation and finalisation of your trading account with NDD.
Sally Jackson of The Australian interviewed me last week about the Newsagency of the Future workshops I am running at the moment. Sally’s article is in today’s newspaper and can be found online here.
I hope that the article encourages more newsagents and specialist newsagent suppliers to think about and work toward the future. While we have seen dramatic change coming for years, the iPad appears to have delivered the moment when newsagents get that print will not be the core traffic generator forever.
As the discussion following my Visual Merchandising post on the weekend shows, we are our own worst enemy when it comes to modern day retail practices.
This ,the Newsagency of the Future workshops will be held in Sydney, Canberra and Hobart. Next week we hit Brisbane and Cairns. For a list of dates and bookings, please click here. We will be adding another date for Melbourne and shouuld have this listed by the end of this week.
We appear to be getting more of these oversized magazines, like Classic Rock. As the photo shows, these titles encroach on the space of other titles. While I can understand the preference of publishers for using the packaging to carry gifts, the don’t do retailers and other publishers and favours. I hope that this UK trend does not take off with Australian publishers.